Many types of electrical connectors have been proposed and used for establishing contact with a wire or conductor. One area where such electrical contact is necessary is in a transformer which receives power from a high voltage source through a conductor, reduces the input to a low voltage output and applies this low voltage output to a low voltage conductor.
Such transformers have been in existence for a number of years and are commonly mounted on poles which also support the high voltage conductors. The high voltage conductors are connected to an input to the transformer through a terminal connection, while the low voltage output is connected to the second conductor through a further electrical connection.
For years the only acceptable type of connector that has been utilized in connecting the conductors to electrical equipment is a conventional eye-bolt connection. Such eye-bolt connection consists of a conventional eye-bolt that is usually a casting with an eye or opening at one end with a threaded connection at the free end. The eye-bolt is then supported on a base and a conductor is threaded through the eye of the bolt. A conventional nut is then utilized to clamp the conductor between the inner surface of the eye-bolt and an adjacent surface of the base.
While such a connection has been used for many years, certain inherent drawbacks are characteristic in the eye-bolt connection. One of the major problems with such a connection is the fact that the conductor can easily be damaged during the tensioning process because the eye-bolt has essentially line contact with the peripheral surface of the conductor, and thereby can easily bite into the surface thereof. Another problem that has been noted with connectors of this type is that there is only a limited contact area between the eye-bolt and the conductor which can easily produce a malfunction, particularly when the electrical equipment is exposed to the environment.
While these two problems have been in existence for a number of years, the same type of connection is still virtually standard in the electrical equipment industry.